Cottrell corridor vital link

Pinkerton Landcare group along the Wildlife corridor of the forest. Left to right Inna, Bronwyn Akers,Daryl Akers ,Frances Overmans. At front are Annabelle, Evelyn and Tom looking for Birds with his binoculars. Pic Marco De Luca

A $5000 community grant will help the Pinkerton Landcare and Environment Group maintain a vital wildlife corridor at Mt Cottrell and nurture the bird population in the area.

The group received one of only four national community grants made by Birdlife Australia earlier this year to aid the development and maintenance of a wildlife corridor called Pinkerton Link.

Indigenous trees and grasses were planted to create the wildlife corridor six years ago, with group president Daryl Akers saying members are now enjoying the fruits of their labour.

“Bird surveys have recorded an increase in the number of endangered and threatened bird species in the area, proving that the corridor is contributing to local wildlife and providing them with valuable food and shelter,” Mr Akers said.

“The corridor links Mulla Mulla Grasslands with Pinkerton Forest, which predate European settlement and are endangered ecological areas of national significance.

“The indigenous plants in the wildlife corridor will provide food and protection to native wildlife, which travel between the forest and the grasslands.”

He said that the grant meant that volunteers would be able to carry out more planting.

“PLEG is attempting to restore these two areas to their original state, before European settlement, by removing introduced plants and only planting flora which is local to the area,” Mr Akers said.

“We’ll be planting more trees, shrubs, and we will be cleaning out a lot of weeds because of native grasses seeding in the area. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done over quite a large area, so this grant enables us to do that.”